Great styling by BHLDN for a feature on signature cocktail recipes. I love how different size vessels of luminous, sheer colour frame the featured drinks (while also highlighting the company’s glassware and bar accessory products). Colourful, well-styled cocktails? I’ll drink to that…

I am obsessed with edge painting (when color is applied to the edges of cards, invitations, books and so forth). It adds such a pop of colour/shine to design. I don’t think I’ve seen a hologram-like effect though until this morning. Whoa. Created by designer Denis Mallet for Parisian art merchant Julien Hauchecorne, the business cards have a “diffraction effect foil on a pristine white and ebony black duplexed substrate with a diffraction foil fore-edge printing process on the outside edges”. Mind is blown. Striking and downright magical…

In my latest post for Rena Tom, I explore the details that turn online retail from good to great. While lacking the tactile quality of brick and mortar stores, online shops have complete control over how they are presented aesthetically (a rather rare creative opportunity!) With careful attention to even the smallest design elements, a shop can turn into a unique corner of the web that features mindful navigation, striking design and its own style voice. Community building via a blog or Instagram, creating a unique shopping cart style, highlighting colourways, art directing fabulous opening photography – great online stores are all about the details. To read my post, head over here.

A few months ago, I posted a striking carpet design made out of clothespins created by Dutch art collective We Make Carpets. On a visit to the collective’s website yesterday, their three newest carpet pieces more than grabbed my attention. Created out of cocktail picks (love the side view), chocolate bars and disposable cups/utensils, they are truly beautiful modern tapestries. Oh and proof positive that with incredible attention to form and colour, one can craft a complex and richly textured pattern out of any material…

Paint made from paint that has been thrown away? That’s downright brilliant. Newlife Paints rescue waste paint from landfills or incineration and reprocess it back into premium grade emulsion. And they can match any colour! Working with the eco paint manufacturer, Mini Moderns has launched a new line of 12 paint hues to match their textile and wallpaper designs. I love the neutral yet bright palette and how the swatches are styled as colourful lids on a modern backgammon wallpaper…

A fluttering swirl of origami butterflies, I love this fusion of design installation and styling by Elixr and Dream Interiors. Created for annual design event Saturday in Design, the butterflies make a striking piece of art but also highlight the clean lines of Dream Interiors’ white furniture collection and Kiki K’s storage boxes. Neutral yet lushly vibrant, it’s a match made in styling heaven…

I love music videos. Yes, the genre is littered with some rather disturbing commercialization, repetitive imagery and soulless preening BUT I still believe there is great potential for four minutes of striking visuals and music. Done right, they can become pieces of art. Case in point: I love the new video for “Try” by Pink (a legitimate talent powerhouse). Directed by Canadian Floria Sigismondi, it’s a fusion of beautifully choreographed dance and vibrant powder. I particularly like the end section as a dusty room and carpet fill with colour and desert light bounces off pigment covered skin. One powerful use of colour…

With the rise of big box stores and discount e-commerce, brick and mortar shops feel more important than ever. Their design details and community building potential are vital to the uniqueness of cities. To me, the soul of a place is found walking down its streets but what happens if every street looks exactly the same? Even if chain stores are an inevitable addition to a neighbourhood, there is no excuse for cookie cutter design. Just look at that great Starbucks above! Any shop can be engaging and full of great design. In my latest post for Rena Tom, I dissect some great brick and mortar shops that have caught my eye lately and serve as inspiration for physical storefronts, unique online spaces and temporary retail. Pop over here to have a look…

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada, a holiday saturated in warm autumnal hues. I have always loved this photograph by Chris Glass featuring maple leaves gathered from the same tree, arranged in spectrum order and matched with Pantone swatches. The changing leaves of autumn are one of the best palettes in nature…